Rubbish Moments
Last Sunday, at church, the passage was Luke 4:
‘…..They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him (Jesus) to the brow of the hill on which the town was built,
in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.’
(Verses 29-30)
The speaker said that, in Jesus’ day, the bottom of the cliff was where people threw their rubbish.
Doesn’t that give an added dimension to the people wanting to throw Jesus off the cliff?
I’ve always thought that wanting to throw him off a cliff was bad enough, let alone that they wanted to throw him in with the rubbish.
Picture shows rubbish tip on sandy cliff top. Goats are grazing and the sea is in the distance. By Unsplash
Being hard of hearing/deaf is hard, isn’t it?
It can sap our confidence, sending it plummeting.
It can feel rubbish.
It can make us feel like rubbish.
Jesus knows what it is to be treated like rubbish.
Basically, the people wanted to treat him as they would an empty wrapper, or a scraped-out tin, or discarded food (or their cultural equivalents!).
They were treating him like rubbish.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize…
(Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus understands.
He understands what it is like not to fit in.
To be seen as different.
To be misunderstood.
To be treated like rubbish.
He gets it.
But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Jesus knows what it’s like to be treated badly, and he knows what it’s like to come through it.
Maybe next time we feel like rubbish – either because of others or from within – due to our hearing loss, we can follow Jesus. What did He do?
He walked through the crowd and went on his way.
He didn’t allow the people to align him with rubbish.
Perhaps we can ask Him to lead us through the ‘crowds’ that make us feel like rubbish.
As we follow him, we will know him more and more, and we will be encouraged by His Presence with us.
In our rubbish moments, may we turn to the one who understands, who cares, who has overcome.
Lord,
When people speak I cannot always hear their words,
Help me to hear them with my heart.
Help me to listen with love, as Jesus would.
To forgive them when they shout or turn away
Or can't be bothered, making a joke at my expense.
In the deepest part of my being
Help me to hear Your Word in the still silence
Because that's the one that matters.
Isn't it?
(Prayer written by Fay, a member of Open Ears)
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I (Jesus) have overcome the world.
John 16:33
